Reclaiming History through Women’s Voices: The Memoirs of Jean Said Makdisi and Serene Husseini Shahid

Abstract

Memory often becomes the only record that remains when a country knows nothing but war. Palestine, like many Arab countries, experienced successive forms of foreign rule—though with a distinct trajectory. Unlike neighboring Arab regions such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, which were allowed to move toward independence after World War II, Palestine never achieved statehood. The Balfour Declaration (1917) and the British Mandate ultimately led to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which displaced large numbers of Palestinians from their homes. Since then, Palestinian identity and history have often been distorted or denied, prompting Palestinians to reclaim and narrate their history through personal and cultural narratives. Two memoirs written by Palestinian women stand out in this case: Teta, Mother, and Me: Three Generations of Arab Women (2004) by Jean Said Makdisi and Jerusalem Memories (1999) by Serene Husseini Shahid. While Teta, Mother, and Me focuses predominantly on Makdisi’s mother and grandmother, Jerusalem Memories follows several generations of women in Shahid’s family and community. In the introduction to Shahid’s book, Edward Said notes that Palestine has never had a state-backed archive, unlike Israel. He also laments the fact that modern historians narrate Palestinian history either from a Zionist or British perspective and are reluctant to disrupt the dominant narrative by considering alternative historical accounts. Furthermore, he stresses the importance of books like Shahid’s memoir because they challenge this silence and bring women’s voices and experiences to the forefront (x-xiii). Through this research, I aim to highlight the unique insights of both memoirs and contribute to the growing body of Palestinian memoir scholarship. I also seek to bring a feminist perspective to the reading of Palestinian history and world literature.